Cellular, Wi-Fi, radio, and other wireless/mobile communications networks conventionally allow individual users connected to the network to send and receive a variety of data, services, and media, including both on-deck and off-deck content such as voice, SMS, html, email, IPTV, internet radio, streaming video, etc. Such information is conventionally retrieved through the network, via a home agent or other centralized, network-controlled element having a high-bandwidth connection to the media providers (e.g., the internet) or stored content. The services and/or media are then distributed to individual users from the centralized network element via existing wireless connections between the users and network, i.e., in a “vertical” fashion.
FIG. 1 is an illustration of a conventional wireless network architecture illustrating conventional vertical data exchange. As shown in FIG. 1, subscribers to a wireless network 10 communicatively connect via a mobile station 100, such as a cellular telephone, to one or more base transceiver stations (base station) 20. Data, including both control- and content-related data, services, media, and any other type of information that may be transmitted wirelessly is sent and received between the base station 20 and the mobile station 100. One or more base stations 20 may be communicatively connected to a radio network controller (RNC) 25 in conventional wireless network 10. Typically, several base stations 20 in a single geographic area may connect to a single RNC 25. The RNC 25 may transmit data from the base station 20 further “up” the wireless network 10, that is, further vertically removed from mobile stations 100. RNCs 25 may coordinate data transmission throughout the wireless network 10, including determining resource priority, transmission type between mobile stations 100 and base stations 20, and user handoffs between base station 20.
Information regarding number of users/mobile stations 100 connected to a particular base station 20 at any given time is conventionally accessible at individual base station sites. Available information includes number of users connected, a mobile station ID, length of connection time, and Quality of Service metrics for users being served by a particular base station 20. Network operators may periodically poll individual base stations 20 in order to gather data regarding total network usage and/or network traffic data.
The mobile stations 100, base stations 20, and RNCs 25 may all be part of a radio access network (RAN) 50. A telecommunications provider may operate one or more RANs 50 in providing telecommunications services in a variety of forms and areas. RAN 50 may be communicatively connected to a Packet Data Serving Node (PDSN) 60 via RNCs 25, in a CDMA network, for example. PDSN 60 may provide a variety of services to RAN 50, including Internet access, operational data, and/or network applications to the RAN 50, PDSN 60 may connect through a Foreign Agent 70 and/or Home Agent 75, which may include conventional servers, routers, and/or other internet access devices, to a wireless network services server (WNSS) 80, which may be provided to RAN 50 through PDSN 60. WNSS 80 may be one or more network provider-owned servers in a central or decentralized location(s) and may include, for example, hardware and/or software providing an internet browser, email management application, software downloading programs, etc. PDSN 60 may be further connected to a subscription/services management host, such as an Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) host 40, which may serve as a gatekeeper to the various applications and data available through PDSN 60. AAA host 40 may include one or more servers 45, which may provide subscriber- and application-specific data and govern user access to WNSS 80 through PDSN 60. The host 40 may include an home subscriber server (HSS) database 46 and/or home location register (HLR) database 47 that maintain a listing of active users 100 network-wide for the purpose of matching subscription services with particular users based on their subscription data, log-on status, geographic location, etc.
Through the above-described network shown in FIG. 1, information may be controlled, accessed, generated, and/or transmitted through conventional networks 10 down to individual network users 100. Even with data compression, encoding, and specialized timing and control algorithms, vertical delivery of user-requested information to network users 100 through the network's wireless spectrum, such as through the transmission chain of WNSS 80—HA 75—FA 70—PDSN 60—RNC 25—base station 20—network user 100, may consume large amounts of spectrum and transmission resources in mobile networks. For example, a conventional Third Generation (3G) network in the United States lacks the spectrum and transmission resources to provide 40% of its subscribers with streaming or downloaded video of 8 minutes in length in any given day. That conventional 3G network, using Long Term Evolution transmission management, further lacks the spectrum and transmission resources to provide more than 7% of its users access video or other data at 500 kbps, under typical operational loads.
When demand exceeds these transmission capacities, conventional wireless networks, such as network 10 shown in FIG. 1, may degrade the user experience by, for example, dropping services, delaying downloads, or providing unusable data. Wireless network operators conventionally attempt to mitigate transmission resource shortages by deploying additional transmission hardware and/or acquiring more wireless spectrum, effectively increasing throughputs between vertical wireless connections in RAN 50.
Wireless operators further conventionally rely on stationary and accessible Wi-Fi hotspots to assist in providing user-requested data, services, and/or media, so as to take advantage of other spectrum, potentially not network-controlled for information delivery. Conventionally, mobile devices detect accessible Wi-Fi hotspots or land connections themselves and opportunistically acquire requested data that is otherwise unavailable or unusable from network spectrum.